Hi guys, how are you?. First, I want to thank you for spending your time with metal symphony, we are really motivated by this interview. I want to congratulate you for this wonderful new album called " aurora", which is on top of the melodic scene at this moment. It´s been three years since your last release, why was that?.
Ule: Thanks for the compliment, but the albums title is actually ´AURA´….In the meantime Tommy worked on the last album of ´Souldoctor´ and Helge finished the latest´Dreamtide´ album. I was working on my paintings as well as writing songs for ´Aura´.
"Aura" is a pretty well produced álbum compared to "Brothers Keepers". Who did the production?. After you listen to the album for the first time, its easy to realize that the production process was very hard. Was the process of making "Aura" a long and hard one?.
Ule: As almost all of our previous albums we again produced ourselves.No, although we took our time to record it, the production of ´Aura´ was actually a lot of fun with many relaxed and inspired moments…
Compared to your previous álbum "Brother´s Keeper" we think this one is less melodic, do you agree?. Personally the first track "Fighting for your love" reminds me of the classic Fair Warning, those who made "GO" in 1996. How did this incredible song came up?.
Ule:No, I don´t agree – I think this one is the more melodious one."Fighting for your love" is a typical FW song I would say, uniting power and melody with a playful and energetic performance. I wrote it thinking – ´this could be a good opener´- and immediatly after we had recorded it, we noticed, how well it turned out.
One of the most important characteristics of "Aura" are the background vocals, an important part of melodic rock,you can see that in songs like " Hey Girl" and "Here Comes The Heartache", two songs that bring us back to the golden era of "Longing for love". Did you took a look back in time to compose these two songs?.
Ule:Right, we´ve always used backing vocals as one element of our style, but
only if they add an additional colour to a part. In general, we´re very selective about the amount and level of them, because they sometimes take away of the ´personality´of the vocals…
No, not consciously. If you listen to a few FW records in a row you might notice a stylistic continuity – there are always these kind of ´musical echoes´ in our work. The reason is simple: throughout all the everchanging we´ve always – throughout all the everchanging fashions – tried to remain faithful to our musical indentity and develope it further.
To continue with the analisis of your new album, we find songs like "Holding On" that sounds very close to styles like Blues- Rock, this makes the album more complete. Is musical variety something important for Fair Warning, or it just happens casually?.
Ule:No, this is intended. We all like to incorporate different stylistc elements
into our music, you can say things in a much more complex way like that and it´s just so much more fun.
Melodic Rock is not going through its best moment right now, despite that, new albums like yours "Aura" keeps coming out. Are you informed about the new releases? What new bands do you like the most?..and What do you think about the music industry´s situation at this moment?.
Ule: I´m not so familiar with these kind of labels like ´Melodic Rock´. I think we´re all thinking more in terms of ´good music´and ´boring music´, that´s why all four of us have a rather broad range of sounds and bands,we like and listen to. I like the ´Kings of Leon´for example, although you can´t really compare their style to ´Fair Warning´. You can be sure, if there´s a good new band, one of us will make the others
aware of it.
The music industry, or should I say what´s left of it, seems to be in a difficult situation right now, the internet simply has changed everything – honestly I don´t have a clou, how things are going to develope…
One thing that could be very interesting for our readers is the way you compose your songs. What are your most important influences when it comes to creating a song to be recorded?
Ule: When I am writing, many influences can spark of a song or an idea for a song. Obviously it can be some melody or groove Ì´ve heard, however long ago, which suddenly creeps up in my mind, taking it´sown shape. But it also can be a film or a book, that I´ve read.
Most of the time though, it is some personal experience, that creates a mood or athmosphere within, which then – step by step – takes the shape of an ´inner movie´, that consists of images, sounds and words, that finally emerge into a whole… the song.
Talking about "Aura", in "Walking On Smiles" we hear Tommy Heart´s voice sound more mature, with some amazing vocal registries that remind us of the band´s old hits. I think Tommy Heart must take good care of his voice, Im I wrong?.
Ule: Tommy has always taken very good care of his voice, never smoked and only rarely drinks. Before going on stage, he regularly warms up thorougly and tries to avoid talking too much on tour, but he never really succeeds, ha, ha… Most important is though, that he´s been growing as a musician and you can hear that.
I always wonder why Fair Warning has hardly come to spain. You have lots of fans here and I think it could be a very nice experience for you. Do you know about your fans in Spain?.. Will we have the opportunity of enjoying "Aura" live in Spain?.
Ule: I know, we have a lot of fans in your country, but the concert promoters in
Spain seem to be not aware of this. At the moment one show in Spain is scheduled so far – on the 11th of October in Madrid. If you know of some more venues we could play, let me know… 🙂
Japan has always been a very important market for Fair Warning, How the Japanese press has receive your new album? Is "Aura" selling well?.
Ule: ´Aura´ had great reviews in all the big magazines and on its release day it
went straight into the top ten of the charts…
Fair Warning is a very important band in the Melodic Rock scene, You started in 1992 with a wonderful debut and since then have release great albums. From 1992 to 2009.What has musically change in all these years for Fair Warning? What remain the same?.
Ule:I think we´ve always incorporated some new musical influences into our sound and we have learned a lot as writers and musicians. Essentially though, we have remained faithful to ourselves and our identity as a band and that´s something more and more people seem to appreciate, because they feel and sense the uniqueness and honesty behind it.
Well guys, this is it. Thanks again for this interview; we wish you the best in your new proyects. Is there anything else you would like to add for Metal Symphony´s readers?.
Ule: Check out ´Aura´, we hope you like it as much as we do…
Luis Ignacio Orós/ Yanko Pla